W17: New store for old-world elegance

It’s hard to believe that this quietly luxurious and beautiful space dedicated to fine furnishings for the home used to be a warehouse. Located in a compound in Makati, W17 was Warehouse No. 17 in its previous incarnation and was a storage for wakeboards and other water-sports equipment.

Today, W17 is a spacious, two-level showroom for furniture and accessories that are a curious mix of old-world style, chinoiserie, Filipino antiques, and contemporary pieces. Unlike many home stores that like to display their stuff in stark, white, minimalist spaces, W17 is just the opposite in terms of color palette. It has ash-gray walls and dark-brown drapes…and yet the effect is as if the pieces were against a white background in the sense that the dark canvas proved to be perfect to highlight the furnishings.

The pairing behind W17 is, at first glance, a little bit unlikely. Kaye Tinga, while known for her impeccable fashion and her work with poor communities, is not the first name you come up with to own a home store — but her co-owner Andy Vasquez-Prada is. Andy took up interior design at the Philippine School of Interior Design, and specialized in interior styling at Central St. Martin’s College of Art and Design in the UK. In the early 2000s, he opened his own company, AVP Trading Inc., which manufactured luxury home products and retailed children’s garments from Lilly Pulitzer. From 2004 to 2011, Andy consulted with Rustan’s Home Division, which he revamped and brought in fresh ideas.

Drift away: Driftwood lamp with black shade against brown blackout drapes

Kaye relates, “Andy and I have been friends for a long time. Interiors and furnishings are really his love. His mom, Mari Cris, had a furniture store before, so it’s always been an interest for him. For a couple of years, every time I would host a dinner at home he would help me fix the house. And I have always admired his taste. Though his experience at Rustan’s was very good for him, he has his own vision and he was ready to venture on his own. It’s always been his dream to have his own store. Everything you see here is his vision.”

Andy’s influences range from different schools of design, from British colonial to Italian and Spanish, from travels, fashion, and Filipino artisan work — all these have shaped his cosmopolitan style fused with timeless elegance and artistry.

As for her own style, Kaye says it’s a bit more eclectic — having lived in four houses with her husband, former Taguig Mayor Freddie Tinga, in the US and Hong Kong and the Philippines. “I don’t like very modern or Asian or Balinese,” she says. “When people ask me what my style is, I say I don’t really have a particular style. In the same way, W17 has no specific style of furnishings.”

Modern Italia: B&B Italia lens dining table and leather chairs, the abstract painting on the wall is by Lao Lianbien from Kaye Tinga’s own collection (no, it’s not for sale). The carafe and drinking glasses in the middle are made from recycled Coke bottles, flanked by two sets by Schott Zwiesel. Photos by FERNAN NEBRES

Indeed, it is a mix of old world — European touches and antique Chinese and Filipino pieces (a very ornate altar table from Batangas, for example, costs P3.5 million) — and a handful of modern touches, such as fine German glassware, Christian Tortu candles, drinking glasses made from recycled Coke bottles (and soon amber glasses from recycled San Miguel bottles), and hemstitched table linens.

“What I really like about Andy’s style is that it brings in old-world charm and warmth. Like the colors here, they’re very European and then we mixed in Chinese items and contemporary crystals, glass and bronze.”

Kaye says they discovered many of the pieces when they attended Maison et Objet, the furniture and accessories trade show in Paris, and with the help of their interior-designer friends like Johnny Ramirez, Anton Mendoza, Tonichi Mendoza, and fashion designers like Rajo Laurel and Pepito Albert. “I am so open to input because I’m not an expert in these things. The sourcing and buying, Andy did it. I did go with him to Maison and it was a nice experience because you get to see the trends. We ordered these things in June, and we were wondering, may bibili kaya? Then we went to Maison in October and the same design was being offered there by a different source. Parang na-validate yung choices namin months before.”

Arbiters of taste in home styling: W17 owners Kaye Tinga and Andy Vasquez-Prada. Kaye and Andy both love the old-world style splashed with modern pieces here and there. “Every time I would host a dinner at home Andy would help me fix the house. And I have always admired his taste. It’s always been his dream to have his own store,” says Kaye Tinga.

A designer they discovered at Maison was Alexander Lamont, whose bronze and copper pieces look like wood while many of the furniture pieces are by B&B Italia. There are also products that will soon bear the W17 trademark — designed by Andy Vasquez-Prada — and some accessories like boxes made of stingray by Pepito Albert. Then there are the oriental touches like deities and sculptures of koi fish made of bronze. One lady, says Kaye, walked in and bought the koi in three different sizes. “Apparently, they’re very popular as I have seen them in interior design magazines as well,” she says. “It’s probably our single most popular item.”

Kaye says the selection of Chinese and Filipino antiques are called “W17 Vintage.” The Chinese pieces come from the 18th and 19th centuries. “Nowadays, it’s getting harder to find Chinese antiques because the owners want to keep them, compared with 10 years ago when they didn’t want the pieces because they were moving towards modern. I bought an antique cabinet 12 or 13 years ago and now the dealer wants to buy it back from me for 15 times the price — to sell back to China.”

Bowled over: A hammered bowl by Alexander Lamont and oriental bowls from China; in the background is an animal skull with horns made of resin.

The Filipino antiques were “unintentional,” says Kaye. “We have suppliers who would suggest things to us, like a Filipino altar table from Batangas, and we liked it. Filipino antiques are more expensive than Chinese pieces.” You can, of course, turn the cabinet into storage for clothes, linens, entertainment system, or even make one into a liquor cabinet.

While Kaye claims that she knows nothing about design, she does know a lot about social enterprise and making opportunities to give work to communities. She did it in all the years that her husband Freddie was mayor of Taguig.

To her surprise, she found out that Andy had the same passion for helping people. “I know him socially and when we were talking about the store, he said part of what he wanted to do was to help. He has an aunt who has a cooperative supporting 50 families by doing linens. He said he wanted to continue the work of his aunt. There is that side of him that not a lot of people see — his desire to help communities. My husband is a politician, it’s something inherent in us, and to Andy it was something natural, too. I told him, ‘Do you think if we do something we can help these communities?’ He said, yeah, he would do the design, train the craftsmen and he can do quality control. Andy’s really particular, which is what makes him so good. Like for one collection ang tagal na naming nag-product development, but Andy wasn’t fully satisfied with the results so he didn’t green light it.”

One W17 product of social enterprise is a line of table linens — hemstitched and looking so luxurious. “Even in Maison, the linens weren’t handstitched as well as these. We have two kinds of linens, one for every day in contemporary colors such as black, brown and gray, and another kind for more special occasions.”

W17 did a soft opening by inviting some friends over last week (grand opening is in January 2012). “We came in at midnight with Andy’s mom to clean up the place. We wanted to do a small blessing because we were following a feng shui date. We called up Pepito Albert and said, come and help! My only contribution was wiping the tables,” Kaye says, laughing. 

These juxtapositions at W17 — from the textures (the patina of old wood against the chrome legs of a table, for instance) to styles (an ornate wooden altar table from Batangas and a modern glass table from B&B Italia) to influence (Asia and Europe) and even intentions (a high-end store working with a cooperative and poor communities) — are very interesting and, in a way, unique. Much like the pieces they have sourced from around the country and abroad.

* * *

W17 is located at 2241 Pasong Tamo, La Fuerza Compound, Makati City. Log on to www.w17home.com.